Hidden text field with http value not clickable in user email

[antonitus]

How can I explain this issue without confusion, so I'll try and see where it gets me, so sorry if it is confusing and please let me know if it is. Also I had a problem creating the name of the subject for others to search on, just in case.

In the 1.x version, I have a hidden text field that is included as one of my fields. This field has a value that is a http link that gets outputted in the user/ text email part, i.e the user receives it as a downloadable pdf link, like this 'http://www.somewebsite.com/file.pdf'. The http value creates a web link which you can click to get to a place on a website. In the beta version, the http value is outputted as usual, but it does not create a http web link, it just outputs the name that is non-clickable. Is there a bug with this or should I be doing something else in this beta version, i.e. maybe approach it different way.

Regards.
antonitus

[Ben]

Hey Antonitus,

I don't think this is a bug, no. Email clients (like the one I use, Gmail) sometimes convert strings that look like HTTP links into clickable links in email content. I didn't *ask* it to, but it does it anyway. But other clients don't do it; they only show the non-clickable string.

[To test your email client, try uploading this to your server, changing the email address to your own:

PHP Code:

<?php
mail("your@email.com", "My Link Test (text)", "Text: http://www.formtools.org");
$headers .= "Content-type: text/html";
mail("your@email.com", "My Link Test (html)", "<b>HTML:</b> http://www.formtools.org", $headers);
?>

- it won't work on all servers; only those that allow the 4th mail() parameter].

Anyway, we can FORCE the client to show the link only with HTML formatted emails. If you like, post me back with your HTML email template and the name of the field you want to convert to a clickable link and I'll show you how to tweak it. :-)

- Ben

[antonitus]

Hi Ben,

Thank you for your kind help so far.

I tested that script. I get the email with the http name, however I still get that non-clickable link. This is very strange.

Here is my test scenario. I have vista and I use it's own windows email system which is an upgrade to outlook express. The link is clickable when sent to say yahoo or gmail mailboxes and it even works on my outlook express on my windows xp computer. So you're right it is an email client issue, however it works well using FT1 on all email clients and both operating systems, so maybe the script needs a bit of tweaking which is where I need your help. I tested these both using the text email and the HTML email formats and both are still not giving me the clickable links, just the flat name of the link. You said you may be able to tweak it. Can you please tell me how to do this?

Regards,
Tony

[Ben]

Sure, no problem! Here's how you'd do it with the HTML template.

First, edit your email template and go to the Content tab. There, select the "To Administrator Client" option in the "All fields" option. That's the simplest to work with. It should generate something like this:

Code:

<p>
  There has been a submission made through your form, {$FORMNAME}:
</p>

<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="1">
  <tr>
    <td style="font-weight: bold">ID</td>
    <td>{$SUBMISSIONID}</td>
  </tr>
  <tr>
    <td style="font-weight: bold">Name</td>
    <td>{$ANSWER_nm}</td>
  </tr>
  <tr>
    <td style="font-weight: bold">Link</td>
    <td>{$ANSWER_link}</td>
  </tr>
  ...

What we're going to do here it convert the field that contains the URL into an actual HTML URL. Change the row to this:

Code:

...
  <tr>
    <td style="font-weight: bold">Link</td>
    <td>
      {if $ANSWER_link}
        <a href="{$ANSWER_link}">{$ANSWER_link}</a>
      {/if}
   </td>
  </tr>
  ...

The actual placeholder used here (<b>$ANSWER_link</b>) will be different,
depending on your form field name, but hopefully it will give some idea!.

For the text version, I'm afraid that there's no way to make it clickable if the client doesn't do it for you. Plain text emails are just that: plain text. It *is* possible that FT1 is sending along slightly different headers that the email client is interpreting as HTML, but looking over the code I can't see it... I'm afraid I'm out of ideas for that!

Still, I hope the above helps at least. Let me know if I wasn't clear on anything![/code]

- Ben

[antonitus]

Hi Ben,

Sorry I made an error before. The http link is clickable when an email is sent as text, but it didn't work with HTML. The tweak you sent above, seemed to have done the trick for HTML, so thank you very much for that. I can now use the FT2 version.

Once again thanks for your continued help.

Regards,
Tony

---

I forgot to mention that I need to apply that tweak on the email address as this is non-clickable too.

Thanks,
Tony